This discussion begins and ends with authority.
Well, no. Dictatorships begin and end with authority. Christian faith begins and ends with the glory of God in all His fullness. He certainly HAS authority. But He IS love. He has redeemed us, not to push us around in demonstration of His authority, but to have a love relationship with us. When you love someone, you talk to them, you share your heart, your plans, and you listen to them. So God also talks with us, through His word. Why do you suppose Jesus beat back temptation with a "Bible snippet" from Deuteronomy 8:3? Because God would have us remember that even in our greatest physical needs, our greater need is, as He said, "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." That's our food. That's what we live by.
So I really don't understand your position. Your claim to authority does not originate with Scripture. The Roman interpretation of Matthew 16:18 is very much in dispute, and was not even used by Rome's apologists as a "proof snippet" for Petrine supremacy until well after Trent. Furthermore, one of the great ecclesiastical history scholars of our time, Peter Lampe, has demonstrated quite powerfully that any supposed Petrine succession has to account for the fact that from Paul to Valentinus, a gap of about 160 years, the Christians of Rome were a diffused and decentralized faith community working mainly out of house churches, not only not having a pope, but not even having a single definite Bishop of Rome. See this link for a brief introduction to his work:
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2014/01/an-extended-review-of-peter-lampes-from.html
Here's my main problem with your position. I don't understand why you would want folks like us to go against the clear teaching of Christ, that we should draw our spiritual sustenance from the words of God, based on a theory that is not only not supported by Scripture, but cannot be rationally supported by history either. Now I'll be blunt. My epistemology of faith begins with Scripture, not uninspired, extra-Biblical history. Lampe could be wrong. Eusebius could be wrong. They didn't write God-breathed texts. Paul did. Matthew, Mark, Luke John, this is where I know I can find my spiritual food. So why would you want any follower of Jesus to go wandering into the murky labyrinth of uninspired history looking for uncertain human authority, when for the price of turning a page, I can read for myself what Jesus and the Apostles taught under divine authority? Is God incapable of making Himself known to me, especially when I am doing the very thing Jesus said I should do, feeding off of every word of God?
Peace,
SR